Report: 5 Sayreville High School Football Coaches Suspended Amid Hazing Allegations
Note: This article was updated on Oct. 19, 2014
SAYREVILLE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – Five tenured teachers who also coach football at Sayreville War Memorial High School have been suspended with pay from both the classroom and the field as district officials and prosecutors continue their investigation of alleged sexual hazing at the high school, NJ.com reports.
So far, authorities have not charged any adults in the case, CBS 2's Matt Kozar reported.
Superintendent Richard Labbe could not be reached for comment, but CBS 2 spoke with him during a vigil held last weekend. There, he said his priority is the health and well-being of the students.
Report: 5 Sayreville High School Football Coaches Suspended Amid Hazing Allegations
"We're monitoring all of our students extremely close and are giving attention particularly to the children on the football team," he said at the vigil.
Seven Sayreville football players were charged for allegedly hazing four underclassmen in locker rooms in incidents occurring over the course of 10 days.
All seven players have been suspended from the school.
Matthew Todd, a former student of the high school, does not believe the team's head coach knew of the alleged hazing.
"Definitely not, because if he knew, it wouldn't have gone on," he said.
Todd stands by his former coach and says the accused hazers should be punished, not Coach George Najjar and his assistants.
"He was always on top of the players making sure they did what they had to do," he said. "He was a great coach. We wouldn't have made it as far as we did if it wasn't for him."
Over the past two weeks, CBS 2 has reached out to Coach Najjar on several occasions about the allegations, including Saturday night. However he has not yet commented.
Suspensions will reportedly be addressed during a school board meeting Tuesday.
Under state law, those suspensions must be with state pay because none of the coaches have been indicted criminally, WCBS 880's Jim Smith reported.
The district's superintendent has said he doesn't believe the coaches knew about the alleged abuse because they were not hit with criminal charges.
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